Comments on: Show me people who feel good about the way they look.

Question: Show me people who feel good about the way they look.

arianell — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:20:27 -0800

I'm looking for pictures that could serve as an antidote to "thinspiration".

I'm recovering from an eating disorder, and I've recently gained more weight than I'm comfortable with. Rationally, I know I look fine, but occasionally I look in the mirror and freak out a little bit. I'm having a bit of trouble feeling attractive and sexy in my "new" body.

I think it would be good for my self-esteem if I could find a collection of photographs that highlight the fact that it's possible to be beautiful at any size. So, does anyone know of any websites or photography books that showcase people of all different sizes? Erotic and/or nude pictures would be especially cool, but I'd also appreciate any images that feature imperfect people embracing their flaws.

Thanks!

By: adiabat

adiabat — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:34:08 -0800

You might like to read this essay, by Heather Corinna. Her site has lots of pictures of the type I think you might be looking for, which is to say, often NSFW. (I've used her site for reasons similar to yours, and I do think it helped me in a very direct way.)

By: hal_c_on

hal_c_on — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:40:05 -0800

You know what might be a good idea...if you help others conquer what you have conquered.

I HATE to sound like a commercial, but check out www.dove.us and see where you can "get involved".

They have that whole campaign going about women looking beautiful.

Good luck.

By: IndigoRain

IndigoRain — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 17:45:06 -0800

Miss England contestant Chloe Marshall.

By: Flying Squirrel

Flying Squirrel — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:03:52 -0800

I really liked the 365 Portraits project. It really seems to capture a wide variety of people at their essence.

By: kimdog

kimdog — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:09:24 -0800

Adipositivity
Full Body Project which has been discussed on the blue.
I also find Spencer Tunik to be inspiring. There are lots of different bodies in his photos... but en masse they aren't noticeably different. We are more alike than we are different.

By: ISeemToBeAVerb

ISeemToBeAVerb — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:33:35 -0800

Not sure if this is exactly what you had in mind, but I've always enjoyed the way that Diane Arbus photographed her subjects with a dignity that the rest of society never gave them.

By: spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints

spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:53:31 -0800

Go look up Beth Ditto, lead singer for The Gossip.

By: nadawi

nadawi — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:57:53 -0800

find some porn from ifeelmyself.com - girls of all sizes being down right sexy. it's all natural masturbation stuff...ishotmyself, abby winters and beautiful agony are also places for sexy at all sizes bodies.

By: judith

judith — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:23:27 -0800

The BMI project illustrates the different ranges of BMI and shows real people at all sorts of sizes, as does the height-weight sample page. Neither are "look at how hot I am" projects, but more about showing how measurements and looks are sometimes not well-correlated.

By: thinkingwoman

thinkingwoman — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:24:46 -0800

i don't think you need to look at overweight people to feel okay--i would be afraid that you would look at them and transfer your disordered body image to thinking you are obese when you are maybe a pound above the minimum healthy weight.

the thing i hate is that we've lost touch with what NORMAL people look like. who on TV is a size 10 or 12? they're all either size 2 or size 20.

if you are in the u.s., i have been struck by how the female dancers on "so you think you can dance" have normal body types. they are very athletic and beautiful, and every one of them would be told to lose weight if they were actresses or models. so they might be good role models. they are not fat and beautiful, they are normal and beautiful.

also, i don't know if this show is on, but kat from "l.a. ink" is a very glamorous, hot gal who has some curves. catherine zeta-jones is incredibly beautiful and curvy. j. lo is looking nice and curvelicious since she had her babies. even heidi klum, on "project runway," is looking a bit meatier and not model-frail. ditto tyra banks. the model frederique van der wal is very curvy (she does a lot of victoria's secret catalogs and shows). if you watch "lost in translation" and see scarlett johanssen in comparison to the girl playing the model her husband is photographing, she's easily got 30 pounds on the model. and yet she is totally beautiful. liv tyler is curvy and lovely. if you watch the german movie "the lives of others," the main character's girlfriend is a tall, voluptuous woman. kelly clarkson is curvy and cute.

this summer, watch the olympic swimmers to see what a strong body with lean mass looks like. (okay, dara torres has some incredible muscle tone thing going on, but she's not a normal swimmer.)

there are a lot of beautiful people out there who are your weight, and above--it's just a matter of learning to recognize them. flickr has a neat photoset of various BMI categories and the people who fit into them. a lot of those people are beautiful and confident and sparkle, in all sizes.

good luck! i think you will get used to your new body. in the meantime, be kind to it. it's just trying to help.

By: ceberon

ceberon — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 19:27:36 -0800

I'll second beautiful agony for what you're looking for. I find those women all very hot, and I don't remember if any of them are model thin. Certainly not many of them.

By: cmyk

cmyk — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 20:32:23 -0800

You want your great-grandfather's porn.

The pinup girls in the Victorian and post-Victorian era were nothing like today's models. They're ordinary women. They have bits of chub and imperfect bodies and nothing is airbrushed and they're not shaved and they are - still - gorgeous.

My favorite suppliers for this stuff are the livejournal communities vintage_sex (one underscore) and retro__sex (two underscores). (Vintage is for pre-1940's; retro is from 1950-1970.) To gain access to these, you need a Livejournal account with your birth-year posted prominently somewhere in the userinfo.

There are loads of other sites with this sort of theme, but those two are my favorites.

By: citron

citron — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:44:39 -0800

Toccara, Vogue Italia, this month. I don't think this link has all the pictures, if you can find the magazine I think there are more in this editorial. She lost at America's Top Model, I'm not sure why, but she is in Vogue, and who the heck knows where the other ladies from that season have ended up as far as modeling careers go. I have nothing to say about flaws whatsoever, she's gorgeous.

By: arianell

arianell — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:45:35 -0800

Wow, every website that's been mentioned so far has been really cool/uplifting.

And damn, Toccara is smokin'.

By: triggerfinger

triggerfinger — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 04:02:17 -0800

Crystal Renn
Whitney Thompson
Jennifer Hudson
Mia Tyler
Queen Latifah
Chloe Marshall
Adele
Kate Dillon

Body Gossip
Too Fat for Fashion
Fatshionista Flickr
Curvy Divas
Divalookbook
Revolution of Real Women Flickr

By: mynameismandab

mynameismandab — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 11:14:13 -0800

I really like the Dove commercials and now they have the Campaign for Real Beauty. Check it out.

By: mixed greens

mixed greens — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:57:14 -0800

I completely understand how you are feeling! I still fixate on my body shape to some degree (honestly, who doesn't?), but this website helped me become more comfortable with my boobs.

By: gjc

gjc — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:48:28 -0800

Are you still in therapy for the eating disorder? Because not feeling good about the weight you are gaining is going to be a problem- whether it's an eating problem or a body identity sort of thing- and you should be talking to someone about that.

By: happyturtle

happyturtle — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 11:17:51 -0800

Leonard Nimoy has done some gorgeous nudes for his Full Body Project.

By: divabat

divabat — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 20:06:58 -0800

Bellydancers!

By: fiercecupcake

fiercecupcake — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:53:49 -0800

I could have written this post. Thanks, everyone, for the great suggestions, and thanks for posting, arianell.

I don't think the Curvy Girls community on LJ has been mentioned yet.